Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Autumnal Preview 2013





School has started, and in fact, has been underway for a few days now. This time of year almost always brings color to the lower canyons around SpringTown, and the Canal is starting to blush.
This little hike was a good way to end this day; sometimes being a part time teacher working two three quarter time jobs can bring an man close to tears, and the beauty and joy always up this way brings another kind of tears.


Sunday, August 25, 2013

Haiku Montage for August Reading



Blood and Earth

Here, we are, right here-
seed, soil, and rain bounded by 
the sky only, free

As blood is, unhinged
from the frame of our spirits-
so ethereal

Intermitting sleep,
ever certain, peach and pit
vanish into soil

Aroused once more
as a river, slow water-
in faith again, free.

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Wood From Across the Street



The mighty Ash across the street at the Sorensen's was taken down a week or so ago, and luckily we were able to secure some of the wood. Some heavy old wood it is, and my toe can tell the tale of how much a certain rolling round weighed.
Much more wood to procure before the snow flies, by the way. It's seldom that I can feel the necessary push to cut before the merry month of August.

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Dire Wolf Ranch







There's never enough time to spend up at DireWolf, and this summer is especially odd with the needs of the garden, time teaching at Snow, all of the chores the kids are doing for everyone in town and at their farms. We make it up and down the hill from time to time, though. 



Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Summer Outing

The family was kind enough to allow me a quick road trip Monday. Just a quick up and over the Nebo road and up to Heber for the day; clouds and a little rain on a couple of hikes up canyons there and back. This is as far away as I've been able to get since June, so I'm happy to have a few images in my mind of waterfalls and trails I haven't seen since last summer.
Prep days for school begin officially on tomorrow with lots of work needing to be done today, so life totters onward despite my flight to the mountains...

Sunday, August 11, 2013

It's Brew Time!



The MacEgan fellow was down this weekend bringing tidings of great joy and skills of superlative import. Brews were concocted and the the waters cooperative, and though the bottling created opportunity for colorful language, it all worked out in the end.
Two weeks 'til the proof, and the preliminaries seem fair promising...

Influential Songs in My Life intallment #1


In Bluer Skies 
by Echo and the Bunnymen

What needs must be
I realised
I'm walking out
From blackened skies


You say belief
Is in our eyes
But how can I believe
In blind lies


I'm counting
On your heavy heart
Could it keep me
From falling apart


Have we been born to follow
Tied to a bitter rein
Or will we begin to grow
Bound by this simple chain


Will we evolve tonight
Sparkle like brittle stars
Can we dissolve tonight
Held by your hungry arms


I'm counting
On your heavy heart
Could it keep me
From falling apart


I would be ready
Ready to go
Was your heart heavy
Heavy with sorrow
Had you been heavy
We could have both been grown
Now your hearts heavy
Heavy with sorrow


I'm counting
On your heavy heart
Could it keep me
From falling apart


What needs have been
You'll realize
I've found myself
In bluer skies


I know belief
Is in your eyes
We can't believe
In blind light


I'm counting
On your heavy heart
To keep me
From falling apart

Funny little ditty by McCulloch and the boys from the album Porcupine; one of the songs that was reserved as a panic button while I was on my LDS mission to Colombia, SA, some twenty four years ago. A sort of simple, yet thoughtful verse that helped me to feel my way out of quite a few emotional/existential paper bags and back onto an even keel. With a catchy beat, to boot...

Friday, August 9, 2013

Monsoonally speaking...





With the sky darkening quite frequently with the promise, if not the reality, of rain, we've seen a renaissance of grass in the yard proper. The pasture is still pretty much s-crewed, but maybe the progression of the rainy season and the coming of September will change that around, as well.
Stranger things have happened.

Friday, August 2, 2013

The Sun Sets on the Other Side of the Valley

This kind of thing just happens. I didn't really have to do anything at all. 
Seriously.

Thursday, August 1, 2013

The Summer Rains





This is always my favorite season in which to photograph the little house on the high desert.
So much personality and panache.